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Federal Contact Center Regulations & Directives

Contact centers operated and managed by federal agencies have to follow certain laws, regulations, policies, and other directives. Unless specifically noted, contact centers operated and managed by states or local governments do not have to comply with these same requirements. Access for People with Disabilities (Section 508) Federal contact centers must comply with Section 508
Oct 28, 2013

Mobile Code Sharing Catalog Snippet: Leaflet

Would you like help incorporating mobile-friendly maps in your mobile sites and/or web apps? Check out Leaflet, available on the Mobile Code Sharing Catalog, a modern open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. It is developed by Vladimir Agafonkin of CloudMade with a team of dedicated contributors. Weighing
Oct 23, 2013

Partnerships Can Add Value to Prize Competitions

The right partner can be the key to a successful challenge competition. If you’re planning a challenge for your agency, you’ve probably had to ask: “Do we have the tools and capabilities to pull off this challenge on our own?” Why we form partnerships Often times, the answer is, “no.” But that shouldn’t stop you from
Oct 21, 2013
A report by the PEW Research Center, 12 trends for shaping digital news, looks at how the internet and digital devices are changing news consumption habits. While half of all Americans still prefer to get their news from
Oct 18, 2013

Mobile Products from HUD

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has two apps that can help citizens learn about their housing rights, locate housing counselors and file housing discrimination complaints. The HUD Counselor Locator App allows smartphone and tablet users to locate housing counselors in their own area
Oct 17, 2013

Hosting Successful Federal Twitter Chats

One way to leverage Twitter, beyond the basics of sending messages and engaging in dialogue, is to organize a Town Hall discussion, or Twitter chat. New guidance on preparing a live chat is now available, and we need your agencies to contribute your own policies
Oct 17, 2013

Cloud Computing in the Federal Government

Cloud Computing enables convenient, on-demand access to, and rapid deployment of, shared computing resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services. Plan What is the Cloud? Is Cloud Computing for you? What types of services does Cloud Computing support? Types of Cloud environments Implement Learn steps to acquire, manage, and secure your agency
Oct 17, 2013

Twitter Chat Guidance for Federal Agencies

A Twitter town hall, or Twitter chat, is an event where agencies invite public engagement for a scheduled time period during which users can ask questions or find out more information about a topic via Twitter, much like a webinar. The questions are tagged
Oct 16, 2013

Mobile First

Mobile First is the idea that web sites should first be designed for mobile devices, including only those tasks/items that website visitors use most. Then as screen real estate increases, add in tasks/features as needed based on user priority. This means the site
Sep 30, 2013

Best Week Ever in #SocialGov: 2

(This is the second installment of an ongoing series charting the programs, events and people that make the emerging field of social media and data in government From where I sit, I think we just had a great week in #socialgov. From a sold-out international forum that demonstrated how we can use free tools to
Sep 30, 2013

What Is a “Customer Centric” Culture?

In our very first customer experience (CX) blog post about GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies’ (OCSIT) Customer Experience Program, we published our principles and values. Our core principles say that all staff will: Take responsibility for providing an experience greater than customer expectations. Engage, listen and resolve. Design business from the outside
Sep 27, 2013

Constitution App from the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress recently released The U.S. Constitution: Analysis and Interpretation app, an iOS version of the “Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation.” This is a comprehensive analytical legal treatise prepared by attorneys
Sep 26, 2013

Plain Language Ninja

A few days ago a coworker asked me to look at a paragraph. He said it was on the top customer service priorities in our division. So I scooted my chair over and looked at it. Then I looked at him and asked, “But what
Sep 26, 2013